CSB invited to join American Talent Initiative

The College of Saint Benedict is one of 15 private and public colleges who have been invited to join the American Talent Initiative (ATI).

ATI aims to substantially expand the number of talented low- and moderate-income students at America’s undergraduate institutions with the highest graduation rates.

CSB is part of the third round of schools that have joined the initiative, now totaling 83 schools. The University of Minnesota and Carleton College are the only other schools in Minnesota who are currently part of ATI.

ATI is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, and was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 high-achieving, lower-income students at 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025 (schools with six-year graduation rates consistently above 70 percent).

“It is an honor to be invited to join these outstanding schools as we seek to improve educational equity in the United States,” CSB President Mary Dana Hinton said. “ATI provides a venue for us to learn with other schools that seek to ensure all young people have access to a high quality education.”

Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions. ATI’s goal is to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025.

“Last year, 40 percent of all new CSB students received a need-based federal Pell Grant or Minnesota state grant,” said Jon McGee, vice president of planning and strategy at CSB and Saint John’s University. “Nearly one-third of our new students were the first in their family to attend a four-year college. 

“The American Talent Initiative provides us with a terrific opportunity to amplify and extend our commitment to talented lower-income and historically underrepresented students,” McGee said.

Recent research suggests that at least 12,500 high school seniors per year have SAT scores in the top 10 percent with 3.7 grade-point averages or higher – and do not attend the colleges where they have the greatest likelihood of graduating.

ATI supports institutions with the highest graduation rates and best track records for post graduate success in their efforts to attract, enroll and graduate these “missing” students.

Research shows that when high achieving, lower-income students attend these institutions, they graduate at higher rates, and access to those institutions provides them with a much greater chance of attaining leadership positions and opportunity throughout their lives.

CSB and the other schools participating in ATI will further the national goal of developing more talent from every American neighborhood by:

• Recruiting students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds through robust outreach;
• Ensuring that admitted lower-income students enroll and are retained through practices that have been shown to be effective;
• Prioritizing need-based aid; and
• Minimizing or eliminating gaps in progression and graduation rates between and among students from low-, moderate- and high-income families.

ATI is funded through an initial $1.7 million, multi-year grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. This initiative is co-managed by the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program and Ithaka S+R.